You can’t be anything to others until you take care of yourself first.

Jessica Cabeen

Easier said than done. As someone who prides themselves on their work in their position over the health as a person, I understand. Sometimes it is easier to get up early and check the email. Sometimes it is easier to sleep in and hit snooze until you have to get up and miss morning exercise. Sometimes it is easier to scroll social media, instead of sitting with a devotional or Bible Reading plan. All of these are choices, and too often when left to our own willpower and mental bandwidth we choose easy over harder.

So what if you created habits that were hard to get out of? And what if those habits started your day?

Since 2016 I have been utilizing a form of the Miracle Morning. In the book, Hal Elrod describes in detail a 6-step morning routine using what are called Life S.A.V.E.R.S.: silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. For me, this has taken on a little different spin, but the foundation is the same: prioritizing yourself to start the day isn’t selfish, but can be life-saving and life-giving.

So how do you start? Do you have an extra 10 minutes in the am? Try getting up 10 minutes earlier and pick one activity you have always wanted to do, but never had the time to get it done. Maybe that is a bible study or devotional, maybe it is reading a chapter in a book, or maybe it is starting a consistent exercise routine. By adding an additional 10 minutes into your morning routine you can add one additional habit to start your day.

But here is what you also have to start doing: setting boundaries between work and life. I set the first 40 minutes of the day to be free of work, social media, and other distractions that tend to get me stuck in the weeds instead of focused on my mental and physical health for the day. It takes willpower to shut the alarm off your phone and leave it, but gaining headspace in the am away from work and other distractions is worth it.

So do you have an extra 10 minutes in your morning? Are you frustrated at the lack of focus you have to start your day? Or are you feeling like you have lost a little ground in setting boundaries between work and life and need a place to start to take control back?

As a Full Focus Certified Pro, a resource I use to help me stay accountable and to automate my morning is the Daily Ritual pages of my Full Focus Planner. These rituals put repetitive, positive behaviors on autopilot, freeing your mind to focus on creating a successful day. To begin using these rituals, simply identify the actions you want to do (or already do) each day and the order in which you want to do them. For me my morning ritual looks like the following:

• Bible Study (5 minutes)
• Journal (5 minutes)
• One Chapter in a Book (5 minutes)
• 12 oz of Water with Excercise (4-5 days a week) (30 minutes)

I have ingrained this habit into my day so much that even on vacation, I am up and walking through my morning routine, and enjoying it! By setting the tone for the day and creating habits to ensure your success, you can walk into work knowing that you accomplished something for yourself before you focus on the work of taking care of others.

Here if you need anything,

Jessica

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